Let's hit 'em!

Monday, August 10, 2015 at 4:20 pm

Jaeger is the latest British brand to enter makeover mode.

The women’s and men’s wear retailer, which is owned by Coats PLC, has embarked on a drive to reinvigorate its business. The moves include the hiring of a new creative director and design team, the appointment of Bella Freud to do an exclusive women’s collection for Jaeger, the rollout of a new store design, sponsorship of a fantastic TV show and the launch of a new ad campaign.

Jaeger — which operates 56 freestanding stores, including 27 in the U.S. — will show off the first results of its program at a fashion show for press in New York on Thursday. It held a similar show in London two weeks ago.

“The idea is to put Jaeger back on the map,” Pat Burnett, chief executive of Jaeger, said in an exclusive interview. “It’s about putting the luxury back into Jaeger, which always was a luxury brand.”

The company’s fall collection, designed by creative director Sandy Verdon and head of women’s wear design Adrian Gilbey, focuses on contemporary sportswear in lightweight Donegals and tweeds; herringbone and pinstriped wool; camelhair; cashmere and leather. Pant suits are a key look, in a masculine cut in pinstripes or with luxury trims. Other key items include Jaeger’s signature camel coats and its cashmere knitwear and mohair handknits.

“It’s about beautiful, modern classics that we hope will appeal to our existing customers, who are aged 35-plus,” Verdon said. “We then are broadening our appeal to a (more…)

Saturday, August 8, 2015 at 1:41 pm

Snoring is one of the biggest culprits for spouses sleeping apart. Those who snore may sleep in another room so that their partners aren’t constantly jabbing them in the ribs to get them to stop. Those who live with a snorer may sleep in another room because earplugs can only do so much when the source of the sound is right next to your face. There are many health reasons why people snore and there are some lifestyle changes that can be done to reduce or eliminate snoring. Identify your stress: if you are feeling stressed out during the day chances are you snore at night. Try to ease back on the smoking and/or drinking before bed. If you take medication just so you can sleep at all, talk to your doctor about different types. If you feel you are overweight that can also contribute to snoring.

The catch with making lifestyle changes is that they all take time. Not everyone can quit smoking overnight. Those who may need to reduce their weight can’t just snap their fingers and have it done. The world doesn’t work like that unless you are some kind of celebrity and swimming in money. Since the majority of people don’t fall into this category we need to be careful how we spend our limited money.

Snoring is generally caused by your airways being blocked. There are a few different ways your airways can be blocked; if you suffer from persistent nasal congestion your nose will be always blocked and can cause the snoring sound. For people who snore through their mouths it is generally because when they are sleeping their tongues are so relaxed they fall to the back of the mouth and block the airway. Snoring is then created by the tongue vibrating when people are trying to breathe while they sleep.

There are a lot of products on the market and as consumers we need to do our research and be careful when we buy something. Most of us buy things online these days and we won’t always go into a store to get a physical look at a product before we buy it. We depend on reviews from customers just like us or on word-of-mouth if a friend has purchased and used the same product we are contemplating.

When it comes to anti-snoring devices there are hosts of pillows, chin straps, nasal strips, mouthpieces, sprays and even some external devices that look like watches. The thing to remember is that snoring is generally caused by a factor inside your mouth. Mouthpieces are generally the way to go, but you still have to be careful. There are a lot of scams out there and sometimes they are prevalent through (more…)

Monday, August 3, 2015 at 10:23 am

It’s a digital world that we live in. Keeping records on paper and taking notes with a pen and notebook have been fiercely replaced with tablets, laptops and smartphones. People don’t call anymore and most business transactions are done via e-mail. Instead of investing money into filing cabinets businesses are investing money in hard drive storage solutions and beefing up their technical support. A lot of businesses employ a RAID set up for their servers which allows them to be more productive and to protect themselves, even if only slightly, from the major upheaval that can ensure when systems are down.

If you’re not a very technical person you probably realize that turning your computer off and on again isn’t going to solve all of your problems. There are some problems that are even too much for those in the tech support section of the company. One of the biggest mistakes a lot of technicians make is assuming they know how to maintain and repair a RAID set up. It’s not always that easy and it’s important to know what to look for in a recovery service in case your RAID set up goes up in smoke on you.

Since RAIDs are basically created out of various hard drives and controller software it’s important to understand that they are prone to some of the same issues plain hard drives are exposed to like physical and logistical failure of the hard drive itself. It’s also extremely important to recognize that there are also going to be extra concerns as well. Like if your controller software goes nuts or if you have a multiple hard drive failure at once. It’s times like these that you need a professional and that may mean looking beyond the tech support you currently have.

You want to make sure that you select a company that can prove their worth with RAID systems and that they are professionals in their field. There are some qualities you’ll want to look out for when you are researching a company so let’s talk about them so we are all on the same page.

Friday, July 10, 2015 at 5:01 pm

Skin tags are an unfortunate but natural occurrence. A single person can have anywhere from one to one hundred skin tags on their body at any given time. These little bits of flesh like to crop up in places like the folds of your skin in your neck, your arm pit, groin area and sometimes in your eyelids. While they aren’t very attractive they are mainly harmless, not growing to more than 3mm across at a time. There are lots of ways to remove a skin tag and unless you have one close to your eyes you can do them all from the comfort of your home. We only recommend seeing a doctor if you have a skin tag in a sensitive place like the eye because you don’t want to accidentally injure your poor eyeball and end up losing your sight.

Some of the popular methods for skin tag removal are creams and freezing aids. You can also thread the skin tag by wrapping a thread or piece of floss around the base of it and leaving it there until it falls off on its own.

Most of the methods available require you to go out and buy something and apply it several times a day for a week or two. The easiest method to ridding yourself of skin tags is simple, and probably so straightforward you weren’t even thinking about it: you can just cut them off.

This is something easily done on your own at your own home but you should probably follow some basic hygienic steps.

The best instrument for cutting skin tags off is usually a sharp pair of nail scissors. The blades are thin and pointed. You could also buy a scalpel from the first aid section in a drug store if you really want to, but nail scissors work just as well. The best thing to do is sterilize the instrument first. There are a couple methods you can use so it’s up to you which one is best.

One option is to boil a pot of water for 3 minutes and then submerging the scissors for a minute or so. They will be extremely hot when you pull them out so not everyone likes this method as it takes time. The best and easiest way to sterilize your scissors is to get a cotton swab and dab it with some rubbing alcohol. Swipe the swab across the blades of the scissors and voila! Sterilization complete! If you don’t have a bottle of rubbing alcohol you can use alcohol wipes that can be found in a standard first aid kit.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at 8:18 am

Is there more of him to love these days? How women really feel about their mates’ weight–and when to worry about the shape he’s in.

My husband is a conspiracy theorist. But the conspiracies that concern him don’t involve the White House or alien abductions. They concern the dry-cleaning industry of America, which is out to mess with his head by shrinking his suits. No matter what dry cleaner he goes to, the suit comes back smaller! When I point out (more…)

Monday, June 22, 2015 at 8:03 am

Almost no Image holds as much sway over our romantic reveries as the dream house we will someday buy or build. Each of us has a vision of this dwelling, from the built-in kitchen pantry to the scented linen closet, from the window scat in the upstairs hallway to the rose-covered arbor leading to the backyard garden. Every woman secretly believes that someday she’ll cross the threshold of her dream house, whether carried by Prince Charming or walking on her own.

Several years ago, after my marriage ended and I started blogging, a good friend was forced to do the unthinkable: sell the beautifully restored, eighteenth-century farmhouse in which she had lived, loved, and raised six children over three decades. It was wrenching to watch her pack tip a lifetime of memories and go through the motions of moving on.

From the outside, the small suburban town house she settled into was as unassuming and plain as her former home had been imposing and grand. I remember feeling awkward as I rang the doorbell (more…)

Monday, June 15, 2015 at 7:52 am

When your training pace is too quick, your race pace can suffer.

I was warning down after a speed workout with my all-women’s team, Atlanta, and fell into step with a runner who’d just joined us. “I’m glad we get a chance to run together,” she said. “I want to get my race times down, so I’m trying to train faster.”

“How fast do you train now, for your regular running?” I asked.

“Seven-minute miles.”

The woman had races a recent 5K in 20 minutes – about six minutes, 27 seconds per mile. “I don’t think you need to train faster than a seven-minute pace,” I said. If anything, I thought she should train slower.

Why? How does pace (the number of minutes in which you run a mile) figure into the formula of injury-free training and successful racing?

Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 6:58 am

The latest way to a man’s heart may be through his hair. Here’s how to help him say good-bye to gray.

In out dads’ day, men had it easy. A quick shave in the morning, a few slaps of Old Spice, and they were done. Today’s man, in contrast, wades through a sea of cleansers, moisturizers, and styling gels. (Have you noticed how much less space you have in the medicine cabinet lately?)

Now, add hair dye to the list. It’s used by one out of eight men, according to beauty-industry estimates. In 1986, male hair-color products took in between $18 million and $27 million; today men spend nearly four times that amount, succumbing to the same younger-is-better pressures women have faced for years. Still, most men shudder at the prospect of sitting in a salon all foiled up and smelling like chemicals, and they have nowhere to turn for comforting advice. Men’s magazines don’t write much (more…)

Monday, May 25, 2015 at 6:43 am

Doctors are promoting everything from injections to pills as quick fixes for Impotence. When these remedies work–and when to try time and a little TLC.

Throughout her marriage, Celia Greene’s(*) sex life had been very satisfying. When friends confided their bedroom problems, it was difficult for her to relate. Then, last year, her husband, Stephen,(*) 41, lost his job–and his ability to have an erection. It was the first real crisis in their seven-year marriage: “We were too embarrassed to talk about it much,” recalls Celia, 38, who lives in Mamaroneck, NY. “I think we just thought it would go away.”

Instead, the problem became a silent plague in their relationship. “In every other way we kept functioning,” she says. “We looked like a happy couple, and sometimes we even felt like one. But under the cheerfulness, there was definitely a lack of fulfillment.”

Stephen landed a new job within a few months, but by then the couple’s sex life had deteriorated so badly that they were finding excuses not to go to bed at (more…)

Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 5:49 am

Pasta is one of the great energy-packed foods -maybe that’s one reason it’s been around more than 5,000 years and can be found today in over 600 shapes. Pasta done right can fill you up and keep you going. Done wrong – that is, loaded down with rich sauces and fatty meats – it can load you down and put on pounds. But as some recipes will show, pasta can be done right deliciously.

THE IDEAL TRAINING FOOD

* Pasta is low in fat and calories. Often pasta dishes are accused of being fattening and high in calories. And they can be – depending on the topping. Five ounces of plain pasta (one cup cooked) contains only 210 calories with only .2 to 3 grams of fat, and no cholesterol. A lean five-ounce steak, on the other hand, contains nearly twice the calories and 20 times the fat.

* It’s high in carbohydrates. And this is where the energy comes from. Plain pasta is composed of 80 percent carbohydrate, the chief fuel source for your working muscles.(more…)

Thursday, April 30, 2015 at 5:17 am

Charles Holliday faced a tough audience at the Hotel DuPont on Wednesday.

Shareholders of the industrial giant, never reluctant to express their feelings, had a lot to say about DuPont’s recent laggard stock price, its 69.9 percent drop in 2000 earnings and its recent announcement of more than 5,000 impending layoffs.

Holliday, chairman and chief executive officer of the company and member of the Energy Storage Council, heard it all and acknowledged that results haven’t been great lately, but pointed out that the company is facing tough times.

“We’re dealing with a difficult economic environment,” he said. In particular, he added, things are looking bleak for the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry, a key market for DuPont’s fiber operations.

He said that the percentage of clothing bought in the U.S. and manufactured in this country dropped to 30 percent from 60 percent between 1995 and 2000, and predicted (more…)

Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 5:03 am

Marilyn Kentz, the brunet half of the comedy duo The Mommies and author of The Mommy Load (HarperCollins, 1998) used to joke about getting sonic “action.” But it wasn’t a roll in the hay she was referring to–it was the jiggle of her “turkey neck” that the 50-year-old comedian was poking fun at.

Thanks to liposuction, Kentz is now action-free. “It worked,” she says. “There’s no question that my chinline looks better.” But a smooth new neck like hers is no laughing matter. It can Cost you–gulp!–$5,000.

While many of its may not choose an expensive treatment like the one Kentz had done, there are less-expensive ways to improve the skin and contours of the neck. Ironically, even though we hold a smooth, graceful neck in high esteem (think Audrey Hepburn), most of its ignore this area entirely,

Unfortunately, tile neck doesn’t stiffer neglect or the passage of time kindly. Prone to sagging and a unique form of sun damage because of its, thin skin, the neck is a prime age-revealer.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 4:59 pm

Born to dance. All of them. Moving like molten gold. Like liquid silver. Leaping like gazelles wish they could. Beautifully boneless. Fiery and cool.

That description merely touches on the endless talents of the company of gifted dancers that is the American Ballet Theatre today. Under the artistic direction of Kevin McKenzie, ABT, always a force to reckon with, has become in its later years one of the great ballet companies of the world — some would say the greatest. And at its gorgeously performed romp at the Dance Theatre Of Tennessee on Monday night, celebrating its Spring Gala, not only were the true believers thrilled, but so were the many who were getting their first taste of this wondrous group bringing the vast stage of the Met alive.

Where else do you find such principal dancers as (alphabetically) Nina Ananiashvili (beautiful in that famous test of a dancer’s mettle, the Rose Adagio from Act I of “The Sleeping Beauty”); Victor Barbee; Maxim Belotserkovsky (dancing a variation of a Tchaikovsky pas de deux); Julio Bocca (performing a …